Characters
- Doc Burton – A doctor who, despite his skepticism of leftist views, works in the strikers' camp, ensuring that it cannot be disbanded on the basis of a lack of sanitation.
- Jim Nolan– New member of the "Party," whose political development is one of the book's central themes. His father was a Communist himself, and was legendary as one who fought.
- London – the second, but more significant, elected leader of the striking workers
- Mrs. Meer – Jim's landlady
- Harry Nilson – Party official who initiates Jim's application process for the Party
- Roy Nolan – Jim's father (killed three years earlier)
- Mr. Webb – Manager at Tulman's Department Store, where Jim worked who denies knowing Jim when he hears he is a radical.
- May Nolan – Jim's older sister who mysteriously disappears at a young age
- Mac McLeod – Party organizer and Jim's mentor
- Dick Halsing – "pretty boy" party member in charge of soliciting Party sympathizers for donations
- Joy – naive, possibly brain-damaged from police brutality, aggressive party member; World War I veteran
- Alfred Anderson – Owner/operator of Al's Lunch Wagon; Communist sympathizer and son of a small farmer.
- Sam – "lean-face", a picker
- Lisa – London's daughter-in-law who is assisted by Mac when in labor
- Dan – an old picker whose fall from a rotten ladder initially causes the other workers to take strike action
- Dakin – leader of pickers at the Hunter place
- Alla – Dakin's wife
- Jerry – a picker at Hunter's who favors strike
- Al Anderson – Alfred's father, small farm owner, proud of his dogs
- Burke – Dakin's assistant
- Albert Johnson – truck owner
- Bolter – President of the Fruitgrower's Association who attempts to negotiate with the strikers
Read more about this topic: In Dubious Battle
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